Woz named to Inventors Hall of Fame

Steve Wozniak, who founded Apple in 1976 with Steve Jobs, has been named to the Inventors Hall of Fame for his contributions to a broad range of technologies, a selection committee announced Thursday.

According to an AP story, the Apple II "brought together all the elements of the modern personal computer".

After founding Apple, Wozniak, often known simply as Woz, served as vice-president of research and development from 1976-1985. In 1985, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology.

At the Tech Museum in San Jose, Woz recently celebrated the release of his updated biography written by Martha Kendall, entitled Steve Wozniak, Inventor of the Apple Computer.

Others named to the Inventors Hall of Fame were Walt Disney, who patented, in 1940, a special camera for filming animation; Alfred and Helen Free, who produced an easy self-test for use by diabetics in the late 1950s; Reginald Fessenden for his 1902 inventions related to wireless radio; William Kroll, who developed a method for manufacturing titanium and zirconium in 1940; and J. Franklin Hyde for his 1942 invention of an ultra-pure, high-quality glass used in fibre optics and spacecraft windows. Helen Free and Wozniak are the only two living honorees, according to the AP story.

The hall of fame was created in 1973 by the US Patent and Trademark Office and the National Council of Intellectual Property Attorneys.

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